Contents
Why climbing is going to be your next sport
Fitness
Just participating in the Olympics is already an opportunity to achieve worldwide recognition, and climbing has gained new followers
La climbing He has had his Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in which, by the way, the gold came to Spain thanks to the speed of the athlete Alberto Ginés. And it is that since its announcement as an Olympic sport, interest in this activity has exploded, so it is not surprising that since this summer the number of people who want to carry it out has increased.
For climbing as well as for all other new sports practices, such as surfing, skateboarding or karate, just participating in the Games is already an opportunity to achieve worldwide recognition. As Francisco Mangas, Marketing & Events Manager of Sharma Climbing for Urban Sports Club, argues, the greatest benefit is the visibility of all disciplines. “With visibility come the media and economic interests that should help to make the leap in quality that our sport in Spain requires.”
The Tokyo program divided this sport into three disciplines: speed, rope and block. Blocking, in particular, is a sport that has become a trend in recent years. Besides strength, flexibility is also needed to be able to climb the climbing wall, which is why many climbers practice yoga to train it.
What is climbing?
Francisco Mangas defines climbing as a “very addictive” sport that is rapidly expanding in Spain today: ” climbing walls, which started as facilities so that climbers could train when they could not go to the rock but which currently attract a very diverse public, thanks to the fact that climbing is a very complete sport, and facilities such as Sharma Climbing make it accessible to all public daily, “he says.
There are different types of climbing, but the main ones are:
Speed. It is a route of around 15 meters with the same route always, so that the times are comparable between the athletes. “It consists of arriving as quickly as possible to stop the clock at the top of the road,” he explains.
Boulder (block). Tracks with few movements, but very technical and explosive. “The maximum height is approximately 4,5 meters and no harness is worn because the wall is located on a mat that absorbs the impact of the fall,” he says.
Sporty (rope). It consists of climbing a path between 12 and 15 meters that varies in inclination and number of dams. In this modality, Francisco Mangas says that “the climber is equipped with a harness” and must pass the rope through each of the locks located along the route.
There are also other modalities such as ‘psicobloc’ (climbing over water without a rope) or ice climbing (using crampons and ‘ice axes’ to climb).
«To practice climbing you need the desire to improve yourself and face new challenges both sporting and mental. Climbing always pushes you to the limit of effort and that’s when you need a great capacity for self-improvement and your level of motivation comes into play, ”says Sharma Climbing’s manager.
What is needed to practice this sport are climbing shoes and magnesium (if you boulder) and add a harness and a helmet if you practice sport climbing. At Sharma Climbing, according to Francisco Mangas, you can rent or buy all the necessary equipment.
Contrary to popular belief, your feet are very important in climbing; with a good standing technique the effort of the arms is less. In climbing it is very particular, they are called climbing shoes and consist, as the expert says, of a shoe with a very rigid and pointed rubber sole that “allows maximum precision in the supports”, in many moments all our weight rests on the toe of a foot and footwear must respond. “In addition, they are usually fair (very fair) so that the ‘touch’ with the dam or the rock allows the climber or climber to position themselves correctly,” he says.
Benefits
- Increased endurance and flexibility.
- Improved joint mobility.
- Clearer mental state.
As for the age at which this sport can be practiced, as with other sports, it varies a lot according to the participant’s degree of development… «At Sharma Climbing we have established the age of access to the courses at 4 years . At this age they mainly learn psychomotor skills – in charge of assessing and work the sensory faculties, motor, emotional and cognitive skills of the person-, and to develop in the vertical environment so that when they begin to work on the climbing technique, the motor baggage is as extensive as possible ”, says the expert. However, they recognize that at this age they consider that they are ready to start moving around the wall, always supervised by a technician.